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Mercury
By: Edwin C.
Devon S.
Eduardo B.
Mercury
• Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system, and it is closest
to the sun, although it is the first planet to appear it looks like a small
ball of rock next to the sun.
• It only reflects 6% of the sunlight that is directed at it.
Mercury craters
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The most common topographic features on Mercury are the craters that
cover much of its surface.
Craters in Mercury range from a few meters to hundreds of kilo meters
across.
The largest known crater is the huge Caloris Basin, the impact was so
severe that it caused lava eruptions and left a ring over 2 kilometers tall
surrounding the impact crater.
The shock wave produced by the Caloris impact was reflected and focused
to this point, thus jumbling the crust and breaking it into a series of complex
blocks.
Random craters
Fast facts
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Mercury is about the same age as the Sun: 4.5 billion years.
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It is about 58,340,000 km (36,250,000 miles) from the sun.
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It is about 4880 km (3032 miles) In diameter.
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Temperature variations on Mercury are the most extreme in the solar
system ranging from –170º C (–270º F) to 430º C (800º F).
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Its solid surface is covered with craters and it has almost no atmosphere.
There is evidence of ice in the protected shadows of craters near the north
pole.
Mercury rotates precisely three times for
every two orbits, known as a 3:2 orbital
resonance.
Until 1965, scientists thought that the same
side of Mercury always faced the Sun.
Mercury has 0 satellites.
The ancient Greeks called the evening star Hermes and
the morning star Apollo, believing them to be different
objects.
The planet is named for Mercury, the Roman messenger
of the gods.
It is so close to the Sun that it can be seen only in the
twilight sky of the Earth.
• Mercury is intensely cratered, Moon-like
surface and a faint atmosphere of mostly
helium, resulting from solar wind
bombardment.
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Like the Earth’s Moon, Mercury has a very volatile atmosphere. What little
atmosphere exists is made up of atoms or ions blasted off its surface by the solar
wind and has less than a million-billionths the pressure of Earth's atmosphere at sea
level. It is composed chiefly of oxygen, sodium, and helium.
Mercury's extreme surface temperature enhances the escape of these volatile atoms
into space.
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With no atmosphere or hydrosphere, there has been no erosion from wind or water.
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Mercury may have water ice at its north and south poles. The ice exists inside deep
craters. The floors of these craters remain in perpetual shadow, so the Sun cannot
melt the ice.
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Meteorites do not burn up due to friction as they do in other planetary atmospheres.
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IN march 1974 Mariner 10's three flybys past Mercury mapped about
Mariner
10
spacecraft
in
mercury
half of the planet's surface, during which time a thin atmosphere and
a magnetic field were discovered.
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The spacecraft made three separate passes by the planet, and obtained about
10,000 images which covered about 57% of the planet surface. The spacecraft is
currently still orbiting the Sun, but is no longer sending data because it used up its
gas supply
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Mercury’s surface is…
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Highly cratered with smooth terrains.
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Relatively ancient, volcanic surface.
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Similar to Earth’s Moon, but fewer craters and more “plains”.
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Messenger Spacecraft: In 2004, the United States launched the
Messenger probe to Mercury. Messenger was scheduled to fly by Mercury
twice in 2008 and once in 2009 before going into orbit around the planet in
2011. The probe was then to orbit Mercury for one Earth year while
mapping Mercury's surface and studying its composition, interior structure,
and magnetic field.
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Japan is planning a joint mission with the European Space Agency called
BepiColombo, which will orbit Mercury with two probes: one to map the
planet and the other to study its magnetosphere. An original plan to include
a lander has been shelved. Russian Soyuz rockets will launch the probes in
2013.
Giant scarps (cliffs), called rupes, are believed to have formed when Mercury’s
interior cooled and the entire planet shrank slightly as a result. This figure,
recently published in Science magazine, shows one of these scarps (white
arrows) that is about 270 kilometers (170 miles) long.
Mercury’s density is similar to Earth’s, but planet is only ~1/3 the size of Earth.
Large iron core, 75% of radius (~1850 km), Silicate mantle only ~550 km thick.
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Mercury is the fastest moving planet in our Solar System.
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Mercury’s Basins contain smooth plains but is highly ridged and fractured.
Sites
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http://amazing space.stsci.edu/resources/fastfacts/mercury.php.p=Astronomy+basics@,eds,astronomybasics.php&a=,eds
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http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets/welcome/m10.htm
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http://www.aerospaceguide.net/planet/planetmercury.html
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http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/mercury-article.html
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http://nineplanets.org/mercury.html
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http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/mercury/